Steam Rolled

After my last game with Philidor1792 (see "A Flurry of Punches"), of course we had to have another, and, of course, he had to play the Jerome Gambit...

My experience was something like being flattened by a steam roller.

Philidor1792 - perrypawnpusher
Chess.com, 2015

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ 

4...Kxf7 5.0-0

A "modern" Jerome Gambit, without the "classical" 5.Nxd5+. It still has a lot of bite, as I learned.

Worth reviewing are the two earlier posts: "But – Is this stuff playable??" (Part I and Part II)

5...Nf6 6.c3

We have seen the plucky 6.Ng5+ in  Philidor 1792 - guest143, www.peshka.me, 2014 (1-0, 34).

6...Rf8

Planning to castle-by-hand.

It might have been better to push the Rook one square further, with 6...Re8, although my opponent has dealt with this, too, in Philidor1792 - Chicken_Monster, 1100 KINGS vs Team Russia, Chess.com, 2014 (1-0, 38) and Philidor 1792 - NN, 2015 (1-0, 40).

I wasn't about to try 6...Nxe4 as in  Philidor 1792 -guest826, www.peshka.me, 2015 (1-0, 29) and  Philidor 1792  -guest826,www.peshka.me, 2015 (0-1, 33).

7.d4 exd4 8.cxd4 Bb6 

9.d5 Ne7 10.d6

An excellent idea - the pawn is well invested.

10...cxd6 11.Nc3 Ng6

It was probably better to complete "castling" with 11...Kg8 - if not on this move, then the next one.

12.Qb3+ d5 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.Qxd5+ Ke8

Not only is Black's King back in the center - look at his locked-in light-squared Bishop, a clear sign of danger in the Jerome.

15.Bg5 Ne7 16.Qd6 Bc7 17.Qa3 h6 18.Bh4 g5 19.Bg3 Bxg3 20.hxg3 Qb6 21.Rad1 Rf6 

I was not making much progress. Philidor1792 calmly continued.

22.e5 Rc6 23.Nd4 Qc5 24.Qd3 Qxe5

Silly. Black doesn't need material (or open lines against himself). He should pursue exchanging Queens with 24...Qc4.

25.Rfe1 Qf6 26.Nxc6 bxc6 

Black's position is wretched, despite some returned material.

27.Qa3 d5 28.Re3 Kd7 29.Rde1 Nf5 30.Rf3 Qd6 31.Rxf5 Qxa3 32.bxa3 Kc7 

The Queens are finally off the board, but Black is down the exchange, and only his King is developed.

33.Rf6 Bd7 34.f4 gxf4 35.gxf4 h5 36.Rf7 Re8

This silly blunder ends the suffering.

Even the more appropriate 36...Kd6 would have led to a complicated endgame where White could be expected to continue to outplay his opponent.

Black resigned